On abortion, Dewhurst’s glass of wine — not his pause — could hurt him with GOP base

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, speaking to anti-abortion rights activists in Dallas late last month

The lieutenant governor’s race keeps heating up but sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the froth from the caffeine.

Here’s the real buzz: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s decision to slip out of the Senate last month during an abortion debate — so he could have a glass of wine with Rob Johnson, his former chief of staff and current political consultant, at a steakhouse near the Capitol – may pose political problems for him over the next eight months.

Here’s the fake buzz: Dewhurst’s halting answers about abortion at a Capitol press conference on Thursday are lock-solid evidence of an unfortunate tendency he has – lack of rhetorical agility, largely rooted in his boyhood speech impediment – but not of lack of fidelity to the anti-abortion cause, as an opponent insinuated.

The background: Dewhurst, a businessman-turned-politician, turns 68 next month. He’s not exactly on a roll, politically. He has to decide soon whether he’s sticking with his stated goal – a fourth term as lieutenant governor – or whether he wants to put it all on the line and challenge Attorney General Greg Abbott next winter in the Republican primary for governor.

Aides and advisers say he doesn’t talk about pulling a switcheroo and getting into the governor’s race. But governor is the job he’s wanted and common sense tells you it’s got to be agonizing for him to contemplate parting with another $20 million, say, or $30 million of his quarter-billion-plus fortune. The continued down-sizing of Dewhurst’s net worth would just be for the chance, if he’s lucky, to stay another four years at the east end of the Capitol, running an increasingly restive Senate.

What a fun job. What a mensch. What a dilemma.

Even before last month’s Democratic filibuster that scuttled an anti-abortion bill – for which Dewhurst drew more blame than Gov. Rick Perry and House GOP leaders, though all probably deserved a portion – he was hurting himself.

On the evening of June 18, as the Senate slogged through its initial debate of abortion in the first special session, Dewhurst popped over to Austin Land and Cattle, about eight blocks west of the Capitol, for a chat with Johnson.

Social media exploded with breathless, and in some cases, exaggerated suggestions of dereliction of duty and a leisurely steak dinner: Dewhurst didn’t eat. As his spokesman Travis Considine noted two days later, he presided over most of the debate and was confident colleagues could soldier on during his brief absence.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who is running for lieutenant governor, immediately pounced. “Tenured politicians in Austin” have failed the conservative faithful, with “vanities like expensive steak dinners with overpriced consultants,” he said in a fundraising appeal.

Speaker Joe Straus, responding to Dewhurst’s warnings that House delays would put the abortion bill within filibuster range, couldn’t resist.

“I will bet him a steak dinner the House gets its business done,” Straus said.

Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who wants Dewhurst’s job, has polished an attack over Dewhurst’s June 18 sally for a little vino.

“We need an authentic, passionate, energetic lieutenant governor who would never even dream of walking out and going to Austin Land and Cattle to have a glass of wine and a steak in the middle of a debate on pro life – never even dream of it,” Patrick said Thursday.

AP photo/Eric Gay

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, right, said on Thursday that he wished he'd answered the question the way Rick Santorum, left, did.

Considine, the Dewhurst spokesman, declined further comment. But anti-abortion activists Kyleen Wright and Carol Everett leapt to Dewhurst’s defense on a related matter. They chided Patrick for playing politics inappropriately – on the eve of the anti-abortion bill’s passing — by suggesting Dewhurst faltered when a reporter asked if he wanted to end all abortions.

You can read about this mini-flap at the bottom of this Houston Chronicle blog post and listen to some of what Dewhurst said in this follow up post. Dewhurst was speaking at a Capitol news conference with former presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

By the end of the presser, Dewhurst, perhaps sensing he’d been less than stellar, said he wished he’d answered the what-are-your-ultimate-aims questions as adroitly as did Santorum. Essentially, Santorum said that, despite being constrained by court rulings, you do what you can in incremental steps to discourage abortions, but yes, the goal is ending all of them.

Patrick told me after the press conference, “He didn’t answer the question. The reporter asked me afterwards and I said, ‘I don’t equivocate. I absolutely want to end abortion. That’s not what this bill is about. But if you ask me what my core beliefs are, I want to end abortion.’ ” Patrick said Texas needs a lieutenant governor who “doesn’t wake up in the morning wondering where they’re going to be today.”

Still, actions speak louder than words – or pauses and stilted speech. As a young man, Dewhurst overcame a stutter. He will never be as quick of tongue as Patrick and Santorum. He may face questions for a good while to come, though, about his actions earlier in the summer.

[Note: For more on the lieutenant governor’s race, look for a story by me and my colleague Gromer Jeffers Jr. in Sunday’s paper.]

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The blog for the Dallas Morning News politics team tracks Dallas Fort Worth area, Texas and national campaigns.